Chapter 107: Forever Losing Innocence

Ji Youfeng reached out into the darkness and said, “Girl, come here.”

Hongjian silently moved closer and sat down beside the bed, clasping both of Ji Youfeng’s hands.

Ji Youfeng sighed. He touched Hongjian’s face and asked, “You foolish girl, didn’t you hear what Ding Qin said just now? I’m trapped here by the Heartbreak Shackles. If I want to survive, I can only seize your body. Why haven’t you run?”

Hongjian obediently allowed his warm palm to rest against her cheek. Rather than answer him, she sighed with feeling. “Senior, living in this world is truly an endless torment, filled with despair. Why is it that some people don’t have to live as painfully as we do?”

Ji Youfeng paused, then seemed to laugh. “Look at the pigs people raise. They eat, sleep, sleep, and eat, without a single worry. Don’t they live comfortably? As you said, fools and idlers are blessed. Only clever people like us are left to suffer.”

Hongjian was silent for a moment before finally nodding, admitting that Ji Youfeng had a point. She turned her face and rubbed it against his palm. “There isn’t much time left, Senior. Begin. This is for the best. Then I won’t have to suffer anymore.”

Ji Youfeng was rather taken aback. “Just like that?”

Hongjian smiled faintly and said softly, “Yes. Let it be so. You know my wish. From now on, I’ll have to entrust the affairs of the Crimson Cliff Sect to you. Take good care of yourself.”

Ji Youfeng let out a long sigh. He pulled Hongjian down onto the bed and lay beside her, slipping one arm around her slender waist while placing one hand against her back and the other against the back of her head. It was an embrace filled with profound tenderness.

Hongjian did not know what being possessed would feel like, but because the one who would take her body was Ji Youfeng, she had already abandoned all resistance in her heart.

Yet she immediately sensed that something was wrong. Two streams of true essence were pouring into her body through Ji Youfeng’s palms. His surging metal-element true essence, drawing upon the generative cycle of the five elements, was helping her circulate her water spirit root and rapidly raising her cultivation.

This was no possession.

At this moment of life and death, Ji Youfeng was casting the Myriad Transformations Life-and-Death Art upon her.

Metal generates water.

One of them possessed a metal spirit root, the other a water spirit root.

Only now did Hongjian suddenly understand. Ever since Ji Youyun had come to persuade Ji Youfeng to surrender, Senior must already have formed this plan. Afraid that she would notice, he had hidden it within one wager and jest after another.

Though Ji Youfeng was a Nascent Soul cultivator, he, like her, had been imprisoned in the dungeon and unable to cultivate. If he had not constantly studied and refined his understanding of the technique, how could he have performed the Myriad Transformations Life-and-Death Art with such mastery on his first attempt? Its power even far surpassed her own, despite her intimate familiarity with the art.

“He intends to abandon himself so that I may live.”

Hongjian’s head rang loudly. Unable to think of anything else, she began struggling with all her strength.

Ji Youfeng exerted the strength in his arms and held her down. Then he spoke. “I have never owed anyone a debt in my life. I never imagined that, in the end, I would owe Ding Qin his life. I had wanted to ask whether he had any unfinished wishes, so that you could fulfill them for him. But he said he had none… So be it. Foolish child, his final words were precisely what I wish to say to you. To be born into this world and die for one’s true friend—there can be no regret.”

A vast sorrow swept over Hongjian’s heart. Without realizing it, tears were already streaming freely down her face.

She could feel that the Myriad Transformations Life-and-Death Art Ji Youfeng was casting now was completely different from the restrained assistance she had once given Fang Zheng in his cultivation. This was an act of grim and resolute desperation, without the slightest reservation, driving every last trace of energy from his body.

Ji Youfeng said, “Foolish girl, if one cannot become a true immortal, death will come sooner or later. Don’t grieve too deeply. With my cultivation, I estimate I can raise you at least to the late Foundation Establishment stage. As long as you are careful, you should be able to escape from this deep sea.”

The water rushing into the cavern had already risen above the bed. Half of Hongjian’s body was submerged, and her clothes were quickly soaked through.

The seawater beneath the glacier was bitterly cold.

Their bodies were pressed tightly together. Ji Youfeng rubbed his face against Hongjian’s cheek and whispered, “Are these tears flowing for me?”

Hongjian’s heart felt as though it were being cut by knives. She choked back her sobs, unable to speak. Of all the hardships she had endured, this was the bitterest. Of all the pain she had known, this was the most excruciating.

Ji Youfeng did not need to hear her answer. Leaning against the stone wall, he sat up and wrapped both arms tightly around her, squeezing her so hard that she could scarcely breathe.

As vast quantities of metal-element true essence poured into Hongjian, tremendous changes took place within her body.

Imprisoned in the Demon-Refining Prison, she had ceased cultivating, and the water spirit root within her sea of consciousness had lain dormant for twenty years. Now nourished by an immense external force several stages beyond her own level, it was almost completely transformed. The barrier restraining her cultivation gradually loosened, then finally collapsed and vanished.

Hongjian was too emotionally shaken to notice, but Ji Youfeng immediately realized that she had broken through.

Upon entering the middle Foundation Establishment stage, the aura around Hongjian changed as well. There was no spiritual energy nearby for her to absorb, but Ji Youfeng’s true essence continued flowing endlessly into her.

Before Ji Youfeng could fully transform the metal-element true essence through the Myriad Transformations Life-and-Death Art so that she could absorb it, a new force suddenly appeared within Hongjian’s body and swallowed that portion of true essence whole.

What was this?

Afraid that his unfamiliarity with the Myriad Transformations Life-and-Death Art might leave a hidden flaw in Hongjian’s advancement, Ji Youfeng hurriedly circulated his true essence and traced the force to its source.

He found it.

Ji Youfeng relaxed slightly. It was Hongjian’s divine qi. Only those who cultivated the Great Calamity Scripture would produce this kind of energy within the soul. He and Hongjian had deep ties through the Great Calamity Scripture, so her divine qi should not encounter any problems after absorbing his metal-element true essence.

At this thought, Ji Youfeng’s heart suddenly stirred. He released his hold on Hongjian’s arm and said, “Girl, quickly use the Return of Ten Thousand Currents.”

Hongjian’s mind was clouded and confused. She merely followed Ji Youfeng’s instruction on instinct.

When she performed the Return of Ten Thousand Currents, Ji Youfeng’s heart settled. “So that’s it. Your Return of Ten Thousand Currents advanced along with you just now. Perhaps because of my influence, you differ from Ji Youyun. After advancing, your Return of Ten Thousand Currents gained the ability to absorb metal-element true essence.”

Seeing that Hongjian looked devastated, as though she had lost all desire to live, he smiled again. “This is even better. Ji Youyun and the Talisman Diagram Sect have gathered quite a few metal-spirit-root cultivators. You’ll have a better chance of defeating them when you face them in the future.”

The cold seawater had already risen to their waists. When Hongjian heard him mention Ji Youyun, her mind cleared.

“Do you want me to kill Ji Youyun?” she asked.

The powerful enemies—the Talisman Diagram Sect and Ji Youyun—rekindled her fighting spirit. But Ji Youfeng and Ji Youyun were brothers. As for how Ji Youyun should be dealt with in the future, she had decided to follow Ji Youfeng’s wishes.

“Kill him. But don’t deal with him as you did Jing Li. Killing him is less important than ensuring that you yourself live well.”

Hongjian’s advancement to the middle Foundation Establishment stage did not cause Ji Youfeng to stop the Myriad Transformations Life-and-Death Art. His body grew colder and colder, and he had already lost all feeling below the waist. Even so, he did not waste a single strand of true essence protecting himself. Before his death, he intended to give every last bit of his true essence to Hongjian.

The seawater continued rising, gradually submerging Ji Youfeng’s chest and neck.

After Hongjian advanced, her divine qi gained the ability to absorb metal-element true essence. Combined with the Myriad Transformations Life-and-Death Art, she was merely receiving the energy passively, yet the speed at which it was absorbed and strengthened was several times faster than before.

Just as Ji Youfeng had predicted, by the time his cultivation was completely exhausted, Hongjian had barely reached the late Foundation Establishment stage.

The water had risen to Ji Youfeng’s chin. He sat there without moving, drawing a deep breath before pushing Hongjian away. He gestured for her to leave quickly.

Hongjian still refused to give up. With all her strength, she lifted Ji Youfeng from the water and wept as she tried to undo the Heartbreak Shackles. No matter how she pulled at them—even when she spent her true essence to cast the Return of Ten Thousand Currents—the effort was no more effective than an ant trying to shake a tree. The black, icy chain did not move at all.

This was an outcome she should have known from the beginning. If there had been any possibility of undoing the shackles, Ding Qin would never have told Ji Youfeng to seize Hongjian’s body. Ji Youfeng would not have abandoned hope of escape either. If even a Nascent Soul cultivator could not accomplish it, how could a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator like Hongjian create a miracle?

Ji Youfeng wanted to stop her futile efforts. He had no true essence left, and in the darkness he could not see Hongjian’s expression. But he realized that her emotions had become terribly unstable. She wept without pause, all her movements seemingly unconscious. Perhaps she no longer knew what she was doing.

Like a bird that cannot bear to leave its nest, even when it knows the home no longer exists, it continues circling overhead, unwilling to depart.

Three circuits around the tree, yet no branch remains to shelter it.

Ji Youfeng raised a hand that had already stiffened from the cold and stroked Hongjian’s head. Then he leaned toward her and kissed her with boundless tenderness.

Their lips and teeth met, warm and soft, intimate beyond words, like those of true lovers.

The tears sliding down her cheeks fell into the freezing seawater and vanished without a trace.

The water continued to rise, about to engulf them both completely.

Ji Youfeng released Hongjian and summoned the last of his strength to push her away, urging her to leave at once.

Ever since her breakthrough to the middle Foundation Establishment stage, Hongjian had seemed trapped in a nightmare from which she could not awaken. She had no idea what she was doing. Only much later did she suddenly realize that she was alone, floating in the seawater outside the stone prison.

She turned back.

Though the place was already near the sea floor, waves churned there, making the water appear especially murky.

In truth, Hongjian did not need to look. She knew that her benefactor, her mentor, her companion through life—the one who had stayed beside her day and night since the first stirrings of her heart, the first person she had ever imagined spending her life with—now slept there.

When Ding Chunxue had died, Hongjian had possessed no other thoughts. Her heart had been filled solely with the desire to avenge her senior brother with her own hands.

But this time, she could clearly feel that a part of her had died alongside Ji Youfeng. In the boundless depths beneath the glacier, she had buried all her innocence with him.

Postscript: There are so many things I want to say, yet I do not know where to begin. While writing the chapter “Wherever Life Takes Us, We Shall Meet Again,” I looked it up and learned that it was the title of an old song by PolyGram. After finishing this chapter, I played the music and listened to Priscilla Chan sing, “Even in parting, we offer our truest hearts, silently bearing what fate has dealt us.” I could not help but weep.